Preparation of partially reduced transition metal halide catalyst compositions



United States Patent PREPARATION OF PARTIALLY REDUCED TRANSITION METAL HALIDE CATALYST COMPOSITIONS Erik- Tornqvist, Westfie d, Charles w. Seelhach, Cranford, K

and Arthur W. Langer, Jr., Nixon, N.J., assignors to Esso Research and Engineering Company, a corporation of Delaware No Drawing. Filed Apr. 16,1956, Ser. No. 578,198

5 Claims. (Cl. 252-429) This invention relates to novel polymerization catalysts and polymerization process using these catalysts and to the products derived therefrom. More particularly it pecially those having a substantial proportion of crystalline constituents. 1

A catalyst has already been prepared by reducing TiCl, with dry Ti powder, to form TiCl in violet crystalline form, containing some free unreacted Ti, and then activating the resulting catalyst constituent with an alkyl metal compound such as aluminum triethyl or aluminum diethyl monochloride. The resultingactivated catalyst is quite effective for polymerizing propylene providing a substantial pressure is used such as 50 to 1500 p.s.i.g., usually at least 100 p.s.i.g., and at a temperature of 50 to 100 C. However, little or no polymerization occurs at atmospheric pressure. This is even the case when methods are used which have been found most suitable for atmospheric polymerization of a-olefins using a transition metal halide which has been partially reduced by an alkylmetal compound, preferably to a valence state one unit below the maximal one.

The'reasons why the preformed partially reduced transition metal halides, such as TiCl do not give high polymerization activity at atmospheric pressure even when a suitable alkylmetal compound is present seem to be: (a) that the transition metal compound does not become properly dispersed in the polymerization diluent'resulting I in a very small catalytically active surface area and (b) that the transition metal compound becomes coated with polymer at an early stage-which impairs catalyst activity. These problems can be to a large degree solved by modifying the catalyst.

The main object of this invention isto modify and improve the above mentioned type of catalysts so that the problems described above are not encountered when a process is used which in itself will tend to minimize polymer coating of the catalyst. This can be achieved by incorporating one or more compounds into the catalyst preparation which are soluble in the diluent or diluent-' alkylmetal compound mixture used in the polymerization. Such compounds include salts of metals of groups II and III of the periodic system, e.g. aluminum, boron,

' gallium, beryllium, magnesium, zinc and cadmium.

Preferably the halides may be used and especially the chlorides andbromides. Useful halides include among others AlCl AlBr MgCl MgBr ZnCl and ZnBr In most cases a halide of the same metal as is present in the organometal compound used for activating the catalyst may be preferentially used, although in some cases a compound of another metal may be the most suitable one.

Some of the type reactions through which these com- 'ice pounds may go into solution in a solvent containing an alkyl metal compound are illustrated below:

(1) 2AlCl +Al trialkyl 3A1 monoalkyl C1,,

(4) Mgcl -l-Al trialkyl Mg alkyl C1+Al dialkyl C1 When the incorporated soluble compound, which may have cocrystallized with the transition metal compound into solution a very fine dispersion of the transition metal or intimately mixed with it during its preparation, goes compound results. This in turn causes a very much increased catalyst activity-as compared to a preparation of,

i for polymerization of different a-olefins..

According to the invention the incorporation of one or more soluble compounds into the catalyst preparation may be achieved in a number of ways among which there are two fundamental ones.

According to the first of these methods the soluble salt is both formed and incorporated with the reduced transition metal compound during the reduction procedure.

This is achieved when the reduction is carried out wholly or in part by a metal or mixtures of metals belonging to groups II and III of the periodic system as described above. In this case part of the reduction maybe carried out by the transition metal itself. A soluble salt or salt mixture is then formed during the reaction. Depending upon the proportions" and type of starting materials used, the soluble salt will either cocrystallize or intimately mix with the reduced transition metal compound. The following equations will illustrate this type of procedure:

The above reactions may be carried out either stoichiometrically or with a slight excess of 0.02 to 0.2 mole of the metal or metals so as to leave some free titanium or aluminum in the final product. In the latter case the reaction conditions must be selected carefully so as to prevent undesirable over reduction of the transition metal compound.

i The second basic method of incorporating a soluble salt or salt mixture into the catalyst preparation as described above, is to add the desirable soluble salt before the reduction of the transition metal compound. T e reduction may then be carried outlby the transition metal itself, together with the free metal of the soluble salt or with another metal of groups II or III of the periodic system.

The following equations will illustrate this type of These reactions may be carried out either stoichiometrically or with a slight excess of the metal or metals used for the reduction so as to leave some free metal in the final product. The proportion between reduced transition metal compound and soluble salt can of course be varied within a wider range with the second basic method than with the first one. However, an almost unlimited variationcan be obtained by combining the methods illustrated in Equations a to f.

Patented Apr. 7, 1964 v 3 An important advantage of adding a small amount of certain soluble salts, e.g. AlCl MgCl before the reduction of the transition metal element is that the reduction then can be carried out at a lower temperature than when no salt has been added. Thus, instead of requiring a temperature of 350400 C. as is required for reducing TiCl, with Al metal in the absence of A161 a suitable temperature range when AlCl is used is about 25 -35 0 C. A similar if not always as pronounced decrease in the required reduction temperature also occurs when other metals, e.g. Mg, Zn, Ti, are used for the reduction in the presence of AlCl ZnCl etc.

The temperature of reduction will vary with each particular combination of compounds used but as a rule the most suitable temperatures are between about 150 600 C., and in most cases between 250500 C. Nat-' -urally there is a minimum temperature that can be employed in each case, although quite often a somewhat higher temperature may give a more desirable product. The optimum reduction temperature will of course be below that at which over-reduction or decomposition of the desired reduced transition metal compound takes place. The pressure may be from 1 to 50 atmospheres, preferably from 2 to 30 atmospheres, and the time may vary from a few minutes to 100 hours or more, generally about 1-30 hours, depending, of course, upon the temperature and the types, proportions and amounts of materials used.

The proportions of materials to be used will, of course, depend upon which of the major types of reactions are used in preparing the catalyst, and upon the degree of reduction desired. For instance, in addition to the above reactions (a) to (f) giving'relatively mild reduction of a TiCL, only to TiCl one may also reduce the TiCl further to. TiCl or reduce the TiCL, directly to TiCl using some elemental titanium and/ or aluminum alone, or together with aluminum halide, or equivalent materials, to assist in the reduction.

When aluminum chloride or equivalent material is used to promote the reduction of TiCl, by Ti and/ or Al, the amount of added AlCl should generally be about 1-70 mole percent, preferably sufficient to make a final product containing about 5 to 50 mole percentof A101 In making the above described reduced transition metal compound, the starting material may be'compounds of various other reducible heavy metals other than titanium, e.g. Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo and W. The heavy metal compounds are preferably in the form of the halides, e.g. TiCl, or TiBr but'the invention is not to be limited to the halide derivatives.

After the compound of a reducible heavy metal has thus been reduced as described above, the resulting reduced compound is then activated by an organo metal compound of a metal of groups 11 and III of the periodic table. This may be an aluminum trialkyl, which may have 2 to carbon atoms, preferably 3 to 8 carbon atoms in the alkyl groups, and these alkyl groups may he like or unlike. Also, various aluminum dialkyl monohalides may be used, e.g. aluminum diethyl monochloride, aluminum diethyl monobromide, aluminum ethyl propyl monochloride, aluminum triisobutyl, or other substituted aluminum alkyl compounds such as methoxy aluminum diethyl or derivatives having the general formula AlR X where X may be a secondary amine, acid amide, mercaptan, thiophenol, etc., or more broadly other reducing compounds of metals of the second and third groups of the periodic table such as zinc and magnesium hydrocarbon halides or zinc and magnesium dialkyl, or -aryl compounds, or any of these compounds together with an alkali metal or alloy, or an alkali metal hydride. In the preferred system, the alkyl group is derived from the olefine to be polymerized.

However, in atmospheric polymerizations alkyl metal compounds containing no halogen, e.g. aluminum trialkyls, magnesium dialkyls, zinc dialkyls, etc. are most proportions may be used. For instance, the molar Al/Ti ratio of these two constituents may range from 0.1 to 20, preferably about 1 to 10 mols of the Al-tri,

alkyl, or other organornetal compound per mol of TiCl or other partially reduced heavy metal compound.

For atmospheric polymerizations, the optimal molar I ratio of alkylmetal compound to reduced transition metal compound normally depends upon the amount of soluble salt present in the catalyst preparation. In the specific case of a TiCl preparation containing cocr stallized AlCl the Al trialkyl will react with the AlCl until all of the latter has been converted into AlR' Cl and has gone into solution. This of course causes the desired fine or even colloidal dispersion of the TiCl As alumi num dialkyl halides show little or no activation of the catalyst at atmospheric pressure, enough Al trialkyl must be added so that it can convert the AlCl to AIR CI and leave an additional amount to activate the TiCl catalyst.

The following type formula will show this more clearly:

In this case u must have a value above 0 preferably 1 or higher. This is of course true, also, for other combinations of reduced Ti halides, A1 halides and Al trialky-l compounds. To a certain extent it also applies to other transition metalelements and metalorganic compounds used in this invention.

' The preparation of the activated catalyst may be carried out in any desired manner, e.g. by adding a solution of the aluminum triethyl dissolved in a suitable solvent to a suspension of the reduced TiCl catalyst constituent at a suitable temperature ranging from 0 to C. but preferably about 20 to 40 C., preferably with agitation to maintain the activated catalyst in a desired state of fine solid dispersion in the inert diluent.

The resulting activated dispersed catalyst is then ready for use in polymerizing propylene or other suitable olefins. This is preferably carried out by adding the olefin, in either gaseous or liquid state, directly to the reactor containing the dispersed catalyst, preferably with constant agitation, the temperature being maintained within the range of about 0 to 150 C., normally about 60 to C. The pressure is preferably atmospheric, or slightly above atmospheric, e.g. up to 10 atmospheres or so.

The olefin to be polymerized should be one having the general formula RCH=CH in which R is a saturated hydrocarbon group of 1 to 20 carbon atoms, preferably 1 to 5 or 6 carbon atoms. Thus, (the olefin monomer may be propylene, butene-l, hexene-l, octadecene- 1, etc.

Although the exact mechanism of the operation of the catalyst and polymerization of this invention are not known with certainty, it is clear that the preparation of reduced transition metal compounds according to our invention will result in a very great improvement of the dispersion of these compounds in the final catalyst preparation. This in turn results in greatly improved catalyst activity for polymerization of a-olefins at atmospheric pressure. catalyst preparation technique may also result in better orientation of the olefin monomer at or near the surface of the activated solid catalyst, whereby the polymerization is facilitated.

In addition, as has been previously stated, the incorporation of soluble salts may also have a marked effect on the crystal structure of the reduced transition metal compound, which in tum may influence the properties of the polymers obtained.

The details and advantages of the invention will be in Table I.

better understood from consideration of the following experimental data:

EXAMPLEI 142.2 g. purified 'liC-l 12.0 g. dry Ti powder, and 26.7 g. anhydrous AlCl were charged into a 300 m1. steel bomb. The closed bomb was then placed in a rocker and heated to 400 C. for 24 hours. After cooling, the bomb was opened and an almost quantitative yield of a violet purple preparation containing TiCl and AlCl in a mole ratio of 5/1 was recovered. The preparation was microcrystalline and formed a fairly hard cake. It was, however, much more easily pulverized than a preparation consisting of AlCl -free TiCl EXAMPLE II EXAMPLE III 142.2 g. mole) TiCl 3.98 g. (A atom) Ti and 4.49 g. (Vs atom) A1 were charged into a dry 300 ml. bomb. The bomb was placed in a rocker and heated to 435 C. for 24 hours. After cooling down and opening the bomb, an almost quantitative yield of a violet-purple homogeneous mixture of TIC13 and. A101 in the mole ratio 5/1 was obtained. The product had the same composition as that one obtained in Example I and appeared similar with respect to appearance and polymerization product was microcrystalline and more 3 activity. The easily powderized than the pure 'I iCl prepared by reduc ing TiCl, with Ti in a similar fashion. The improved catalyst activity as compared to the pure TiCl is shown Table I BATH POLYMERIZATION OF PROPYLENE IN XYLENE USING PREFORMED TiCls CATALYSTS Catalyst Preparation 'IiCla Ex. II Ex. III 'IiCla in Catalyst, g. 1.54 1.54 1.54 AlEtJ/TICIB mole Ratio 3 3 2 Total Catalyst, g. 4.96 6.16 4.09 Catalyst Dispersion Fair Very Very Good Good Polymerization Starts et, C 80 52 60 Temp. of Max. Polymerization Rate,

C I05 100 102 Polymerization Time, hrs. 4 1.5 3 Total Yield of Solid Polymers, g 49 G2 242 Highest Polymerization Rate, g.

Polymer/g. Cat/hr. 5 14 23 Polymer Pro erties:

Intrinsic 'iscosity 1.72 2.30 Molecular Weight 125 87 140 Percent lIeptane Insoluble- 91 90.6 89.2

' room temperature. 250 ml. dry xylene was then added and the gaseous propylene feed started. The temperature was then slowly raised (over a period of about 2 hours) until maximum polymerization rate was obtained. More xylene was added as needed for good stirring.

Made by reduction of TICl-l with 'li but no AlCla present. The product contained some free Ti.

The AlEta/Tlcls mole ratio did not seem to be too important as long as so much AlEts had been added that 1 mole of AlEta for each mole of TlCls remained in the solution after the rest of it had reacted with the A1013 present to form AlElZaCl. Thus, an AlEta/TiC ls-mole ratio 01 3 was the minimum for the catalyst from Example II.

Includes AlCla.

This is the most significant figure, as the catalysts normally will retain their activity over a long polymerization time and thus give high over-all efficiencies.

According to the Harris relationship (I. Polymer Sci. 8, 361 (1952)). M24 hour Soxhlet extraction.

Thus the data in the above three examples show that the new catalysts of this invention are extremely effective to polymerize propylene very rapidly to a very high molecular weight product almost completely crystalline (heptane-insoluble) in character, and that this polymerization can be carried out efiectively at atmospheric pressure, which is a great advantage over prior processes which required the use of substantial pressure.

It is not intended that this invention be limited to the specific examples and modifications which have been given merely for the sake of illustration, but only by the appended claims, in which it is intended to claim all novelty inherent in the invention as well as all modifications coming within the scope and spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. The method of preparing a solid catalyst comprising the steps of reducing a halide of a transition metal of groups IV, V, VI, and VIII of the periodic table with a reducing agent selected from the group consisting of (1) a metal of groups II-IlI, (2) a mixture of at least two metals of groups II III, (3) a mixture of the transition metal corresponding to the transition metal in the transition metal halide and a halide of a metal of groups 11-111, (4) a mixture of the transition metal corresponding to the transition metal in the transition metal halide and a metal of groups II-III, and (5') a mixture of a metal of groups II-IlI-a-nd a halide of a metal of groups 11-111 to form a solid catalyst component, said solid catalyst-component comprising a reduced halide of said transition metal intimately associated with a halide of a metal of groups II-III; and adding to the resulting product a metal alkyl compound of an element of groups II and III of the periodic table in an amount sufiicient to give a molar ratio of aluminum alkyl compound to titanium chloride of from 0.1 to 20, whereby at least a part of the aluminum chloride is dissolved out from the titanium chloride leaving the latter in a state of fine dispersion.

3. Process according to claim 2 in which the first product of reduction contains essentially a mixture of TiCl and A1Cl containing about 5 to 25 mole percent of AlCl and adding to the resulting product s'ufiicient aluminum triethyl to give a molar aluminum triethyl/TiCl; ratio of from 1 to 10.

4. The method of preparing improved catalyst which comprises reducing TiCl with a mixture of Ti and an aluminum containing substance selected from the group consisting of aluminum powder and AlCl to prepare a cocrystallization product containing about 40 to mole percent of TiCl and about 10 to 60 mole percent of AlCl and adding to the resulting product sufiicient alumi-- num triethyl to give a molar aluminum triethyl/TiCl ratio of from 1 to 10.

5. The process of preparing improved catalyst which comprises reducing TiCl with titanium powder, in the presence of an added amount of AlCl sufficient to make a final cocrystallization product of a reduced chloride of titanium and about 10 to 60 mole percent of AlCl and adding to the resulting product sufiicient aluminum triethyl to give a molar aluminum triethyl/TiCl ratio of from 1 to 10.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,476,416 Ipatielf et a1. July 19, 1949 2,577,591 Sailors Dec. 4, 1951 2,634,260 Carnahan Apr. 7, 1953 2,678,923 Hansford May 18, 1954 2,691,054 Hazlett Oct. 5, 1954 2,721,189 Anderson Oct. 18, 1955 2,745,802 Schmidt May 15, 1956 (Other references on followingpage) 7 UNITED STATES PATENTS Ziegler Feb. 12, 1957 Brebner Feb. 4, 1958 Brebner June 17, 1958 v Schreyer Aug. 11, 1959 5 Seelbach et a1 Feb. 16, 1960 8 j Carter et a1. May 15, 1960 Sistrunk Ian. 31, 1961 Tornqvist et a1 May 1, 1962 FOREIGN PATENTS Germany Apr. 23, 1953 

1. THE METHOD OF PREPARING A SOLID CATALYST COMPRISING THE STEPS OF REDUCING A HALIDE OF A TRANSITION METAL OF GROUPS IV, V, VI, AND VIII OF THE PERIODIC TABLE WITH A REDCUCING AGENT SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF (1) A METAL OF GROUPS II-III, (2) A MIXTURE OF AT LEAST TWO METALS OF GROUPS II-III, (3) A MIXTURE OF THE TRANSITION METAL CORRESPONDING TO THE TRANSITION METAL IN THE TRANSITION METAL HALIDE AND A HALIDE OF A METAL OF GROUPS II-III, (4) A MIXTURE OF THE TRANSITION METAL CORRESPONDING TO THE TRANSITION METAL IN THE TRANSITION METAL HALIDE AND A METAL OF GROUPS II-III, AND (5) A MIXTURE OF A METAL OF GROUPS II-III AND A HALIDE OF A METAL OF GROUPS II-III TO FORM A SOLID CATALYST COMPONENT, SAID SOLID CATALYST COMPONENT COMPRISING A REDUCED HALIDE OF SAID TRANSITION METAL INTIMATELY ASSOCIATED WITH A HALIDE OF A METAL OF GROUPS II-III; AND ADDING TO THE RESULTING PRODUCTS A METAL ALKYL COMPOUND OF AN ELEMENT OF GROUPS II AND III OF THE PERIODIC TABLE IN AN AMOUNT SUFFICIENT TO GIVE A MOLAR RATIO OF THE METAL ALKYL COMPOUND TO THE REDUCED COMPOUND OF THE TRANSITION METAL OF FROM 0.1 TO
 20. 